Dequacaine Lozenges > Reviews (7)

I contracted a cold last week, and I always struggle with the first few days of a cold, as that is when I have a severe sore throat. This happens everytime I get a cold and lasts for at least 24 hours. I cannot eat, drink, breathe, swallow or do anything without it hurting, it drives me crazy!!

I used to use own brand throat lozenges from my local Chemist to help relieve the pain but I have become increasingly frustrated with these. The anaesthetic in them doesn't even numb my tongue, let alone my throat, and the fact that I can only take one in 3 hours is also frustrating, because it only helps for the duration of which I am sucking them.

In my pain I went to Boots and spoke to the pharmacy and asked for the best that she had! She gave me a pack of Dequacaine. There were 24 throat lozenges and it cost me £3.25. At first I was a bit apprehensive about taking them, as the packet looks quite intimidating, and I wondered if it was too strong a medicine for me to take!!

It says FOR SEVERE SORE THROATS on the packet and the chemist told me that it was the strongest throat lozenges you could buy over the counter.

Dequacaine contains a local anaesthetic which helps to numb the pain of the sore throat, and it also contains an anti-bacterial agent which helps to prevent any infections forming, and also helps kill the infection if you have already contracted one. The packet states that it contains 10mg Benzocaine and 0.25mg of Dequalinium Chloride.

Dequacaine should only be used by Adults and children over 12 years old. The dosage is one lozenge every two hours. You should not take more than 8 lozenges in 24 hours.

The tablets don't have a particularly nice taste, but it isn't hideously bad either. It's a bizarre taste that I am struggling to describe but it's a bit minty, which makes sense as there is peppermint oil listed in the ingredients.

It took about 20 minutes for me to suck a lozenge until it dissolved. After about 2 minutes my tongue and the side of my cheek started to feel quite numb, and I knew that it was starting to work. This does get a bit annoying if you leave the lozenge in the same place in your mouth like I did, and it takes ages for the feeling to get back to it!

It really helped my sore throat however. The anaesthetic really helped with the pain. It allowed me to get on with my day without wincing everytime I wanted to swallow. The anaesthetic effect lasted for me, about 30 minutes after the lozenge had dissolved. The fact that you can only take one tablet every 2 hours was then a bit annoying, because I had to then struggle with a sore throat for an hour, but it had definitely decreased in intensity.

The best throat lozenges I've used and I will definitely be using these everytime I get a sore throat.